close
| 11 July 2010
At long last, our application to become a provisional parish is on its way to Archbishop Peter Jensen. An idea that was floated as a dream years ago … a suggestion last year that we might be ready to apply in 2010 … a determination at our annual general meeting that we would do so … a draft application circulated in May … signed off by parish council in June … and finally, an unadorned B4 envelope, postmarked Shoalhaven Heads, will be on his desk next week.
You could say it’s ironic: an application to cut our formal ties with St George’s and become independent has taken so long because there are so many involved. What do the people of St Peter’s think? Is parish council happy with it? Does the bishop want to have any input? What are the diocese’s rules for this process? You could say that it demonstrates the advantage of being independent – less red tape!
But that would be wrong. All those levels of consultation and review are significant, because as God’s people here in the Heads, we are NOT independent, and never will be. We believe in the communion of saints, the fellowship of all who believe. While becoming our own parish will give us a measure of formal independence, it won’t change the spiritual reality: we are a small, loved, grace-bought part of the household of God. And the people of St George’s, the people who work in ‘head office’, the bishops and archbishop – are all our brothers and sisters.
We rejoice that God has brought us so far. We trust that we are striking out in the right direction, that this is the beginning of a new chapter for our church. And we are honoured that a godly but extraordinarily busy man, full of great wisdom, will carefully and prayerfully consider whether this is what’s best for us, because he loves us, even if we’ve never met. Regardless of Peter’s decision, we know that God will be glorified by our request and his answer – for in the end, the answer will be His.